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Why the Alarms About a Slight Rate Hike?

The near-zero policy has had modest results while depriving savers of gains. A change is in order.

By

Omid Malekan

Feb. 17, 2015 8:02 p.m. ET

Imagine you have a serious illness and have been taking medication that was supposed to cure you long ago. After being on the maximum dosage for years you start to feel better, so you ask your doctor if you could roll back the dosage, ever so slightly, to alleviate some of the side effects. He says that would be fine—but then a pharmaceutical rep tells you that doing so would be dangerous. Whose advice would you follow?

This resembles the situation today as the Federal Reserve signals its intent to start raising interest...